Ex-Crown employee breaks silence on what really happened during Chinese police raids, arrests
A former employee of Australian gambling giant Crown Resorts is risking her personal safety to reveal what really happened to her and 18 Crown colleagues when they were raided and arrested by Chinese police on October 14, 2016.
Jenny Jiang says she will live forever with the fallout of the four weeks she spent in a Chinese prison with drug dealers, pickpockets and prostitutes thanks to the actions of her employer - Australia’s biggest casino company, Crown Resorts.
Jenny Jiang was one of 19 Crown staff, including three Australians, who were held in custody, then convicted of breaching Chinese laws 60 Minutes
Her interview comes amid separate revelations that Crown’s hunger for profits has resulted in its casinos enabling international criminal syndicates which, at worst, may have compromised Australia’s national security.
Ms Jiang was one of 19 Crown staff, including three Australians, who were held in custody, then convicted of breaching Chinese laws that ban gambling and its promotion. This includes the luring of groups of high-rollers to offshore casinos.
Jenny Jiang speaks to journalist Nick McKenzie, who, along with Nick Toscano and Grace Tobin, has embarked on a months-long investigation. 60 Minutes
As part of a six-month investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes, Ms Jiang accuses Crown of having engineered an illegal high roller gambling promotion operation across mainland China and then seeking to cover it up.
In an exclusive interview — to be aired on 60 Minutes on Sunday — Ms Jiang tells investigative reporter, Nick McKenzie, that she believes Crown’s promise to bring revenue to the Australian government via its gaming operations led to the fast tracking of visas for hundreds of Chinese nationals — organised by Crown — because they promised to gamble tens or hundreds of millions of dollars on single trips to its casinos in Melbourne or Perth.
Jenny Jiang is risking her own personal safety to come forward with the revelations. 60 Minutes
She says the Australian consulate offices in China were helping Crown get fast-tracked visas. When it all came tumbling down, Ms Jiang says Crown regarded its staff like a “used napkin you throw in the trash can”.
“Money is way more important than the staff,” she reveals in the 60 Minutes interview.
Ms Jiang refused a $60,000 payment offer from Crown, which included a condition that she stay quiet, and is taking a significant risk in breaking her silence to tell the story of a police crackdown still cloaked in secrecy.
Ms Jiang has accused Crown of not only disregarding Chinese law but also the welfare of its staff. Crown Resorts was part-owned by one of Australia's richest men, James Packer. Through his lawyers, he said he was not on the board at the time of the China arrests, or for many months prior, and played a "passive role" in the company's operations at the time.
The special joint investigation into Crown Resorts will air tonight on 60 Minutes followed by a series of stories in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.
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